Chapter 13 - THE LAST PAGE
Camilla screamed.
Michael fell sideways.
Delaney ran for the SUV.
Domenico tackled him before he reached the door.
The two men hit the pavement.
The gun skidded away.
Delaney punched Domenico’s injured ribs.
Domenico barely felt it.
He hit him back.
Once.
Twice.
Twenty years of grief seemed to live inside that second punch.
Delaney collapsed.
Domenico grabbed his coat.
“You killed my wife.”
Delaney spit blood.
“She should’ve stayed out of it.”
Domenico raised his fist.
He wanted to do it.
He wanted to kill him.
Camilla’s voice stopped him.
“Dad.”
Domenico looked back.
She was kneeling beside Michael.
Blood soaked his jacket.
“Please.”
One word.
Enough.
Domenico released Delaney.
Federal agents surrounded them.
“Hands!”
Delaney was cuffed.
Paramedics reached Michael.
Camilla refused to move until they forced her back.
“He’s breathing,” one medic said.
Her knees gave out.
Domenico caught her.
Michael was rushed away.
Agent Kim picked up the ledger.
She flipped through it.
Then frowned.
“What?”
Domenico asked.
“It’s incomplete.”
Giuseppe approached.
“What do you mean?”
“The last pages were removed.”
Delaney smiled from the back of a federal vehicle.
Domenico noticed.
“You know where they are.”
Delaney said nothing.
Giuseppe checked the ledger.
His face changed.
“Isabella removed them.”
“How do you know?”
“Because these pages list payments. The missing pages would list authorization signatures.”
Domenico looked at the broken cassette in an evidence bag.
“Maybe the tape says.”
Kim shook her head.
“We might recover part of it.”
A medic approached.
“Mr. Russo?”
Domenico turned.
“Your brother is asking for you.”
Marco was inside the ambulance.
Pale.
Oxygen tube beneath his nose.
Domenico climbed in.
Marco opened one eye.
“You look terrible.”
Domenico laughed.
“So do you.”
“Mine’s more dramatic.”
“You got shot.”
“I noticed.”
Domenico sat beside him.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your son?”
“Because I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“That after everything I’d done, I still needed my big brother to save me.”
Domenico looked away.
Marco whispered, “I’m sorry about Isabella.”
Domenico nodded.
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
Marco reached weakly into his pocket.
He pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Blood stained one corner.
“I took it from the ledger before Delaney came downstairs.”
Domenico unfolded it.
The missing final page.
Signatures.
Dates.
Amounts.
Frank Delaney.
Two state senators.
A judge.
Several contractors.
And one name Domenico didn’t expect.
GIUSEPPE RUSSO.
Domenico stared.
May you like
Marco whispered:
“I told you Dad wasn’t telling us everything.”
